• The lawsuit also reveals that the players were asked not to wear bras or underwear, in order to better promote "accidental nudity." • NBC's program "The Sing Off" has slowly become almost all-male, according to Neil Genzlinger for the New York Times. Last night the two all-women groups were on the chopping block, which lead Genzlinger to wonder: "Are men just better at this kind of singing than women? Or, put a different way, is the male vocal range more conducive to a cappella harmonies than the female range?" •  Sonika Kaliraman, 26, was raised on wrestling. Her father, Chandgi Ram, was India's wrestling champion, and now Sonika is living out his dream. She won gold at the Asian Women Wrestling Championship in 2000, but only really became famous when she appeared on the Indian version of Celebrity Fear Factor. She's since learned the importance of "presentation" - i.e. looking pretty. •  A woman from central Israel only narrowly escaped death after swallowing a driedle. Paramedics found the 30-year-old woman on the bed and in critical condition. They have removed the plastic driedle, and she is now in recovery. •  Lawmakers in Spain voted today to relax abortion laws. If the bill is passed in the Senate, women will be allowed to obtain abortions up until 14 weeks. Currently, women are only allowed to obtain an abortion up to week 12 - but only if the pregnancy is the result of rape. • Mehmet Goren has been sentenced to at least 22 years in prison for the honor killing of his 15-year-old daughter. Goren is originally from south-eastern Turkey. He reportedly murdered Tulay Goren on January 7th, 1999, because she had fell and in love and ran away with a Sunni Muslim, while Goren's family was Alevis. Police believe he buried Tulay in their backyard, but her remains have yet to be recovered. • Sad news: Elizabeth Poblete's baby has passed way. Nine days after the Chilean Olympic weightlifter gave birth while training - without even knowing that she was pregnant - her infant son died in a hospital in Sao Paulo. • 455 women in Uganda were interviewed before and after their partners were circumcised, and less than 3% said sex was less satisfying after the operation. Circumcision reduces the spread of HIV, but some people believe that it makes sex less enjoyable for women. Researchers hope their findings can help fight the rumor. • A Florida woman was charged with domestic battery after coming home from a bar and pouring beer on her sleeping boyfriend. She was mad that he's thinking about moving out of state, but now that plan sounds pretty smart. • For Esquire's "What I've Learned" column, Miss America Katie Stam offers words of wisdom like, "When you have to burp, you burp. And then you say, 'Excuse me' very politely." • Despite our best efforts, Sarah Palin continues to get more and more popular. According to a Gallup poll released today, Palin's favorability rating has risen 4 points since October, which puts her at 44%, within 9 points of President Obama. •

Commenters (and circumcised Americans) over at Free Republic struck on a revelation yesterday: if Barack Obama has not been circumcised, then he must not have been born in the United States. Why? Because all of their boys were circumcised. The exchange is amusing:

hoosiermama:
The only other thing that hit me was that [Larry] Sinclair said BO was not circumcised. When my son was born in a hospital that was done as a matter of routine without even consulting us. Would the same be for Hawaii? OTOH People born at home or in some other cultures are not circumcised.

thecodont:
A relative of mine was born (in a hospital) a couple of years after BO's alleged birth date. He was circumcised also (as a matter of routine, not according to any family request).

afraidfortherepublic:
My son was born in June of 1961 in a hospital in CA, and the nurses released us because of miscommunication in a day and a half before the circumcision was done. We had to go back to the doctor's office to have it done a week later, and the doctor was NOT HAPPY. My second son was born in the same hospital 4 years later. I don't remember them asking me about it. Routine procedure for little boys.

hoosiermama:
Wish we had someone to make a phone call to the hospitols in HI and ask if they routinely do circumcism [sic] and when that practice started.

MHGinTN:
You might want to make that call to a Canadian hospital ...

MHGinTN:
No...it would have been in Kenya....not Canada.

Natural Born 54
I am having a vision of a court room scene. The judge turns to O sitting in the witness chair to his left and says "I am sorry, Mr. President, but I am going to have to ask you to stand and drop trou ....."

What is perhaps most disturbing about the birthers discussing Obama's penis is a deeper obsession with black male sexuality. In Nancy Tuana's book, Revealing Male Bodies, she talks about the historic origins of white male obsession with black male genitalia.

The Black male penis became so important in the racist hysteria at the end of the [19th] century because penises are instruments of power. ... [W.E.B.] Du Bois was right about the intimate connection between White male control over women and racism. As Black men and women were threatening the established social, political, and economic arrangements and thus deprive the traditional White leadership of their power, that threat was translated into genital terms because men—then and now—see the penis first of all as an instrument of power. It gives them power over women, and in their comparisons of sexual performance and penile size, it gives them power over other men. That Black men were—for a while—more than they were during slavery is beyond question.

Obama is the ultimate threat to traditional white male power, a black man who has risen to the highest position in government. He has gone through a number of racial stereotypes, from the "magic Negro" to Felix the Cat. It seems like it was only a matter of time before the racial stereotypes surrounding black male sexuality would emerge. The root of this movement is increasingly showing itself to be rooted in white insecurities.

The Freepers may have also been inspired by actual news. U.S. officials are currently considering making circumcision routine as a potential means of preventing HIV/AIDS (Medicaid doesn't currently cover circumcision). They have been examining studies in Africa that show circumcised heterosexual men have lower HIV infection rates, but these studies don't cross over to men who have sex with men. Gay men tend to be more than half of new HIV infections in the United States, so making circumcision mandatory may not actually result in lower infection rates.

Barack Obama Show US Your Penis [Jesus' General]
Officials Weigh Circumcision to Fight H.I.V. Risk [NYT]

Related: Should the CDC Recommend Circumcision? [American Prospect]
Revealing Male Bodies

Wawer's earlier studies of male circumcision in Uganda — like other studies in Kenya — showed unequivocally that male circumcision could reduce female-to-male transmission rates. As nearly 3 decades of dealing with HIV-AIDS as an international public health crisis has shown, simply educating people about barrier contraception and making contraception more readily and inexpensively available — both difficult endeavors in developing countries, for a variety of reasons — are simply not having the same effect in some countries on reducing HIV transmission rates that developed countries like the U.S. experienced (let alone that such efforts seem to plateau when the perception of immediate danger declines and rates go up again). It's entirely possible (and somewhat unsurprising) that education and contraception access simply don't trump human sexual urges, culture and tradition, which is why scientists think adult male circumcision programs could provide a necessary addition to the HIV-AIDS reduction arsenal.

Wawer and her team were hopeful that male circumcision could reduce male-to-female transmission rates as well, given that in many places, women don't have access to barrier contraception or the power in sexual relationships to demand its use even if their partner's HIV status is known. Unfortunately, their hypothesis was incorrect.

Wawer's team recruited 922 uncircumcised, HIV-infected, men aged 15 to 49 years. Some were immediately circumcised and some had the procedure delayed for two years.

The researchers also followed 163 wives or female sex partners of these men.

"Circumcision of HIV-infected men did not reduce HIV transmission to female partners over 24 months; longer-term effects could not be assessed," Wawer's team wrote.

"Condom use after male circumcision is essential for HIV prevention."

Wawer and her colleagues do point to one positive benefit of a widescale adult male circumcision program, though.

"However, the efficacy of male circumcision for prevention of HIV in uninfected men is clear, and reductions in male acquisition of HIV attributable to circumcision are likely to reduce women's exposure to HIV-infected men. Male circumcision programs are thus likely to confer an overall benefit to women," the researchers concluded.

Unfortunately, this is one of at least 3 promising studies conducted in Africa over the last decade — the other two being with carageenan and nonoxynol-9 — that attempted to find a method for women to protect themselves against HIV transmission when they couldn't implement ongoing, external protection themselves. Luckily, scientists plan to keep trying.

Circumcision Helps Protect Men, Not Women From AIDS [Reuters]

Related: Male Circumcision For HIV Prevention In Men In Rakai, Uganda: A Randomised Trial. [NIH]
Male Circumcision For HIV Prevention In Young Men In Kisumu, Kenya: A Randomised Controlled Trial. [NIH]
HIV Transmission Rates in the United States [CDC]
HIV Transmission Rate Declines in United States, Study Finds [Johns Hopkins]
Experimental Microbicide Carraguard Does Not Provide Protection Against HIV, Study Finds [Kaiser Network]
Nonoxynol-9 For Preventing Vaginal Acquisition Of HIV Infection By Women From Men [WHO]

[Image via thomas.merton]

We've got some ideas!

"The First Cut Is The Deepest" is an obvious choice.

As is Basement Jaxx's "Where's Your Head At?"

A male friend said "Help" by the Beatles was the first song to come into his head, no pun intended.

If the father is himself circumcised, Garbage's "Bleed Like Me" probably makes sense.

But if you're feeling a little guilty, Jann Arden's "Insensitive" has quite the double meaning for you.

If there's been a family fight over it, Becks "Devil's Haircut" is a great passive-aggressive choice.

Where as the Bloodhound Gang's "Bad Touch" is just a way to express your displeasure.

If you want your son to have positive associations about his penis and your decision, Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice" is definitely the way to go.

But if you believe it's not a big deal, Blink 182's "All The Small Things" is probably more up your alley.

And if you're just kind of cruel, well, "Limp" by Fiona Apple is sure to fuck your kid up worse.



Other suggestions, of course, are encouraged in the comments.

Music Soothes Circumcision Pain [Live Science]

In so-called "Intactivists" have already gotten 16 states to ban public (i.e., Medicaid) funding for circumcisions, including Florida. For many, though, it's a hard issue to get your hands around.

How intactivists define circumcision: a cruel, traumatic and unnecessary surgery (the American Academy of Pediatrics says the benefits are not sufficient enough to recommend the procedure) that causes enduring sexual and psychological injury to a helpless infant who can't give his consent.

How much of the medical community defines circumcision: a simple, nearly painless operation that removes an obsolete part of the body that can increase a man's susceptibility to infections and sexually transmitted diseases (circumcision reduces the risk of getting HIV by 60 percent, studies show).

How religion defines circumcision: as a covenant with God, as conveyed to Abraham.

Basically, no one is ever going to agree.

The real money quote of the piece, though, comes from a doctor.

Brian J. Morris, professor of molecular medical sciences at the University of Sydney, writes in an e-mail: "Only deception by their propaganda leads some gullible men into believing that their sexual problems have something to do with their circumcision as an infant. This is just not true."

In other words, being anti-circumcision is just another way of blaming your mommy. How very Freudian. Even the men of the movement admit that their sexual dysfunction is problematic.

"Circumcision increases sensation!" [a heckler] shouts, in response to one of the protest signs.

"No, it causes premature ejaculation!" says Marilyn Milos, a former nurse and founder of the National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers.

"That's never happened to me!" the guy yells back.

"Yeah, right!"

And everyone laughs.

Logic fail: if it doesn't increase sensation, how does it cause premature ejaculation?

And, because so many men believe the world revolves around their dicks, circumcision has a lot to answer for.

Spend some time with intactivists and you will hear how circumcision is responsible for, among other things, the oppression of women, sexual disharmony, deforestation, militarization, the rise and fall of empires and the invasion of foreign lands for oil.

And they wonder why it's so hard to get taken seriously.

There is, of course, the occasionally reasonable-sounding person.

Then there's Soraya Miré, a speaker and activist who endured female genital mutilation in her native Somalia when she was 13. After witnessing a male circumcision in the United States, she broadened her message to include both genders.

"I understand women's circumcision is more severe but, to me, pain is pain," says Miré, who lives in Los Angeles and doesn't believe anesthesia for circumcision makes a difference.

She is, naturally, overshadowed by two hunger strikers who think they are really, really, really missing out on good sex.

Leading the pack are two 21-year-olds, Jason Siegel and Zachary Levi Balakoff, who are on Day 3 of a hunger strike. They say they won't eat until genital mutilation is exposed. Go ahead, ask them why. They'll tell you, for many minutes, about the "entire realms of exquisite feeling" they are missing by not having foreskins and the corresponding nerves. The "giant monstrosity" of circumcision "envelops" their entire lives.

Between these two dudes and the many guys hawking DIY foreskin re-growing devices (something you truly do not wish to Google), if the anti-circumcision advocates are wondering why the rest of the country has trouble taking them seriously, they needn't look that long or hard for an answer.

Rallying in the Name of the Unkindest Cut? [Washington Post]

• Celebrity hairdresser Andrew Barton says he has experienced a 67% surge in requests for blonde hair products compared to this time last year. Barton believes that women are dying their hair to counteract the gloom of the credit crunch. Which makes absolutely no sense, considering all the expensive touch ups necessary to maintain a blonde hue. • A new study has found that certain chemicals, commonly found in food packaging, upholstery and carpets may reduce women's fertility. • Scientists have begun to investigate a recent drop in the average age of puberty among girls. They believe that the increase in childhood obesity may be a factor, since fat can be a source of estrogen. • New research indicates that losing weight can significantly reduce urinary incontinence among women. • Further evidence that premature birth may be tied to autism: a U.S. study has found that children born more tan three months early are two to three times as likely to show signs of autism. • Front runner for the "most evil man alive" competition, Josef Fritzl, has invited the world's leading psychiatrists to examine him. He says they "should look into the deepest depths of my soul and learn from it for future cases." We find this deeply disturbing. • The so-called breast cancer gene may also indicate a man's likelihood for developing a particularly aggressive form of prostate cancer. • A new poll shows that more than half the respondents, while happy with their homes, would like to live elsewhere. • Here's the latest results from the seemingly endless pile of no-shit studies: circumcisions are twice as likely to be performed in states where Medicaid pays for them as in states where they are not covered. • Encouraged by security improvements throughout he country, thousands of Iraq women are running for local government. • According to the Ministry of Justice, the number of crimes committed in Britain by girls has soared 22% in the past few years. • At South Devon College, students as young as 14 watched a pole dancing demonstration as part of the school's Be Healthy Week. The video of the performance actually does not appear at all sexual, and looks incredibly challenging. • It turns out that UV light-enhanced tooth bleaching is not only ineffective, but is also terrible for your skin. A study also found that the procedure can damage teeth permanently. • Serena Williams has been named the all-time career prize money leader in women's sport, besting golfing legeand Annika Sorenstam. • 

Over on the pro-foreskin side, "Esther Goldberg" (does she use a pseudonym because she fears the Jews will drum her out for loving foreskins?) argues on behalf of uncut penises, because, well, she's lazy. Goldberg finds that an uncircumcised penis is easier to help get off (especially when you're giving a hand job). Where she agrees with Bussel is on beauty: "A flaccid uncut dick can seem uncomfortably reminiscent of a sea cucumber or a shar-pei," she say., "But you know what? It's a penis, not a painting in an art museum. It's not there to be stared at for hours and admired, it's there to bone you."

Speaking of the penises that have boned us, well, true story: I've only ever been with one uncut dude, and it was the guy I lost my virginity to. I was so inexperienced at the time that I didn't notice he was uncut in the first place — we were always using condoms anyway so it didn't really matter in terms of sensation. Tracie's been with lots of both kinds of peens, and her only issue with uncut is that they sometimes "smell like Parmesan cheese." [Thanks. I was eating lunch. -Ed.] Anna prefers the uncut because she has good associations with them and thinks they're cute, Jen's never seen one, guest-blogger Megan says they weird her out a little, and Dodai has a good attitude: "If i like you enough to get that close I'll work with what you've got."

Circumcised Guys Do it Better [Jewcy]
Foreskins: Bring 'em! [Jewcy]

Point being, there are a variety of horrible-looking products on the market or that the handyman type can make himself to stretch the skin on his penis out [the link is safe for work, but the involuntary leg crossing may draw attention to you]. None of them look comfortable, and all of them would make me run screaming in horror from a man I found utilizing them. All of them require months to years of use to grow skin back over the head of a man's penis.

On the other hand, women are having collagen injected into the fronts of their vaginal walls, their vaginas remade and their labia surgically sculpted, all of which is probably more dangerous and definitely just another way of trying to live up to some ideal of what sex is supposed to be. So, yay equality? I guess?

[A side note from last week's discussion: medical research conducted in Africa shows that circumcision can reduce the risk of HIV infection in males by 50-60 percent. In one study in South Africa in particular, scientists stopped the trial after 18 months because the findings were so starkly in favor of circumcision that they felt it was unethical not to offer the uncircumcised participants circumcision. Yes, AIDS is not as big a problem here as in Africa, and, yes, condoms are more effective, but I think it's important to note that the scientific consensus, even at the UN, is slowly moving toward recommending circumcision for health reasons. I write this because someone is going to bring it up anyway in the comments and we should all read that information anyway. Knowledge is power or something.]

The Great Uncircumcision Debate [Time]
Restoration Devices [NORM]
Moving Forwards: UN Policy And Action On Male Circumcision (Part 3) [Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS]
Circumcision 'Reduces HIV Risk' [BBC News]

In addition to campaigning to end on-going circumcision practices, the movement has taken to endorsing a number of services and products that promise foreskin "restoration." Although, if you resent having your flap chopped, why would you be cool with attaching weights to your dick to get remaining flesh to move south — or put your penis in something called "The Tugger"? But that's just us. We're ladies. But ladies have some very strong feelings about dicks, too.

I, for one, have never seen an uncircumcised penis. (And I've only dated one Jew!) But family (and mine is a big, loud, immigrant Jewish one) is always at play, and if I ever had a son, I would want to have him circumcised, despite my otherwise latent religious practices. I have a friend, however, whose current boyfriend is not circumcised and claims that her relationship with him has helped her see the light. For her, this is dick as it should be: Whole and unrefined. Further more, she's convinced that circumcision is a form of mutilation and has sworn to never do it to any child of hers. Another friend refuses to sleep with anyone she discovers to be uncircumcised. So what's a girl to think about, as Auslander puts it, the foreskin's lament? Does an uncut member impact your sexual preferences and, subsequently, sex life? And does the debate also stir your motherly instincts, nascent or in action? And are the two impulses — what you'd want as a woman who has sex and what you'd want as a (potential or actual) mom — at odds with each other?

To Snip Or Not To Snip—That's Shalom's Question [New York Observer]

I say, yes!, bring on the bris! Having gotten with a number of uncut, less than hygienic men, I can tell you that unclean uncircumcised weens have a tendency to smell like Parmesan cheese. And unless it's submerged in tomato sauce and pasta, you don't really want to put a Parmesan-scented sausage in your mouth.

Circumcision May Not Reduce Sensation [ABC News]

Did you ever have a boyfriend that even though he went off and slept with five hookers, came back and gave you the clap, stole all your drugs and money and then slept with another three hookers before dumping you, somehow, in the aftermath, it was all about HIS pain? (Quiet there at the back, Britney!)

Well, we think he's popped up on Metafilter. You'd think that the call for the ending of female genital mutilation by one of Islam's most respected theological centers would be the occasion of some back-slapping for the many thousands of little girls who won't have their clitorises hacked off with a rock. But you're ignoring the real issue here, featherbrains.

Yet again, it's all about the boys and their immensely more important pain.

"I look forward to the day when similar fatwas are made against male genital cutting. It probably won't be for a couple hundred years, but I may be wrong - cultural consciousness has been shown to undergo radical and rapid shifts in the past. Perhaps by that time, we'll have female mullahs who can add their voice without the bias of being cut themselves."

Because there's absolutely no difference between circumcision, and slicing off a clitoris, then sewing up the wound with twine. Uh-huh. Yup.